You shouldn’t try to shed pounds immediately before your surgery date. In addition, you should continue your balanced diet during your recovery time to ensure you are feeding your body with the nutrients it needs while you heal. Ask your surgeon for advice on what to eat before and after surgery " and what to avoid. Avoid infections: Every surgery comes with risks.Dr. Paul Vitenas, Houston’s most trusted Board Certified plastic surgeon, can give you further details on the recovery after a tummy tuck, as well as more specific instructions on making your recovery as comfortable and as complication-free as possible. Patients at his Houston practice often have the option of staying over the first evening, in his extended care suite, which can take the pressure off your first post-op night at home.
This stage typically lasts at least 5 days after your tummy tuck and possibly longer. Make sure to follow your plastic surgeon’s post-surgical instructions. Use your pain medications as prescribed but do NOT overuse them. Remember that “tolerable discomfort” is the goal, trying to be “pain-free” is unrealistic and will lead to overuse of the medications. Stick with your plastic surgeon’s advice and check with them before changing anything.
Take care of yourself and move slowly, especially when getting out of bed. Plan ahead to take time off of work, most doctors recommend two weeks. Set yourself up with entertainment that you enjoy, pick good podcasts, shows, and playlist. Just try to avoid anything that causes you to laugh, as this will cause stress on your incision and abdominal muscles.
You will be good after 4 to 5 days to do things on your own. But, you should ask somebody to stay with you for these days so you are comfortable. You will be required to take complete rest for at least a week. You can go back to work after a week or you might want to extend it to two weeks because you may be a little sore. Time period before going to work depends upon what kind of job you have.
From brain surgery to ingrown toenail removal, surgical procedures may run the gamut from more complex to less complex, but if you’re the one being operated on, you know that there’s no such thing as a minor surgery. When trusting your body’s well being to the skills of a surgeon, you’re making an important decision, and you need to know exactly what you’re in for.
After you shower, sit down to dry yourself. If you are dizzy from pain meds, sitting down could be a blessing. If you are expecting your period and it does not come, do not freak out. Medications, trauma, anesthesia, and stress can mess with your cycle. Your period may come at an inopportune time as well, such as surgery day. So expect it when you least expect it, or not at all.
Abdominal muscles are made stronger during this process giving a firmer appearance. A tummy tuck is able to give you a smooth stomach that sometimes cannot be achieved through diet and exercise alone. Optimal results are seen when a patient maintains a healthy lifestyle and does not fluctuate in weight after surgery.
Your walker or cane will help you stay hunched over as you move around. Eating a healthy diet before and after a tummy tuck is essential, as it will help you get the nutrients you need and will help you avoid weight gain. What’s particularly important in the diet after surgery is fiber. Many people develop constipation after surgery, as a result of the procedure itself and any pain medication their surgeon prescribed. To help ease straining and minimize constipation, make sure you’re eating plenty of fiber, from whole vegetables and fruits and whole grains.
